


not about the money

by vlieger



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-19
Updated: 2013-02-19
Packaged: 2017-11-29 21:05:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/691426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vlieger/pseuds/vlieger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Naomi, who wanted "Segs admitting why he really wants to buy a summer place in Toronto with Brownie, because Brownie won't say yes otherwise."</p>
            </blockquote>





	not about the money

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cathedralhearts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathedralhearts/gifts).



> hope it brightens your day bb ♥
> 
> (there are prob some small details i got wrong here and there, i tried to fact-check as much as i cld but wanted to get this posted for you before morning.)

"It's just not economical, bro," said Brownie.

Segs frowned. "Dude, it's economical as shit, come on," he said.

Brownie raised an eyebrow. "You got the degree to back that up?" he said.

"Fuck you," said Segs. "Look, it makes sense, you know, neither of us has ever bought a place before, so it's cool to start off with like, a summer place. It's like, more chilled, you know?"

"Right, is that your economics degree talking, or are you a secret real estate agent now?"

" _Fuck_ you," said Segs again. "I'd make a killer secret real estate agent. And it's totally economical, we'd be splitting instead of paying for a whole place separately-- "

"I didn't want a place to begin with!" said Brownie. "And like, if I am gonna buy a place, it'll be somewhere I can actually _live_ , not just a summer place."

"That's why you split it!" said Segs.

"It's still-- " Brownie frowned. "It's still massive, man, like, this isn't renting anymore, it's not that place in Jersey, this is some serious shit. And how much-- like, dude, is it really worth it, considering how much time we wouldn't be there? Economically?"

"It's worth it period, bro," said Segs. "A _summer place_ , come on, how fucking cool is that?"

"Yeah, but." Brownie waved a hand. "Look, dude, I don't make as much as you-- "

"-- Maybe, but like, you save way more-- "

"-- _And_ , like, it's not-- I'm just not sure it's worth it right now, for just a summer place. It's still a lot of money."

"But we'd be-- "

"Even if we do split it," said Brownie.

Segs sighed. "Look, just think about it, okay," he said.

"Fine." Brownie rolled his eyes. "Why you so into this anyway, dude?"

" _Summer place_ ," said Segs. "Duh."

"Yeah, but Toronto?" Brownie laughed. "It's not like the Bahamas or something, bro."

"It's still fucking cool, don't even front," said Segs. "Plus, our families are there. It's not like we wouldn't be getting good use out of it."

"I guess," said Brownie doubtfully.

"Sweet." Segs grinned at him. "Get back to me, yeah?"

"Dude, don't even act like you're not gonna be bugging me for the next forever." Brownie elbowed him.

Segs grinned. "Don't feel pressured, sweetie," he said. "Even though you should totally say yes."

"You're an actual moron," said Brownie.

"You love it, babe." Segs leered at him.

 

Brownie left to go back to Philly the next day. They'd stayed up pretty late the night before watching Gossip Girl; at some point, Brownie had said, yawning where he was slumped against Segs' side, "Shouldn't you go to bed, bro? Gotta get your beauty sleep for the big bad Bruins," and Segs had just nudged him and replied, "Nah, rather get quality time in with you, babe."

So what if he'd meant it a bit more seriously than it came out. Brownie didn't need to know.

Segs dropped him at the airport in the morning, and went home feeling vaguely unsatisfied, like he hadn't sold the whole summer place thing as well as he'd been hoping to.

He'd known Brownie would take some convincing; he always had with any of Segs' plans, but that was just Brownie. Even the awesomest things were never immediately sold on him.

But well, it was kind of a big thing, and he'd been hoping the sweet-sounding setup would have a better weigh-in against the cons than it apparently had.

It was different for Brownie, he supposed. Or well, it _wasn't_ , but Brownie always thought it was.

Like, he made less money, sure, but it wasn't like they were gonna buy some fucking mansion or whatever. And like, he knew Brownie didn't feel as settled in Philly as Segs did in Boston, even if he liked to joke slightly bitterly about how he'd probably be there his whole career 'cause no one would want to trade for him. But that was _why_ it made so much sense to buy a summer place. Like, it didn't matter where you moved then, 'cause it was a fucking _summer place_ you could go back to no matter where you played during the season.

Segs frowned. Had he even made that point to Brownie?

It was best to be safe, so he picked up his phone and dialed.

"Bro," said Brownie when he answered. "I know you miss me when I'm not there and shit, but you dropped me at the airport literally _five minutes ago_."

"I know," said Segs. "I just thought of something."

"What?" said Brownie. "Wait, are you still driving?"

"Uh," said Segs.

"Pull the fuck over, moron," said Brownie, and hung up.

Segs dialed again when he'd parked haphazardly down a side-street. "Yo, mom," he said.

"You're welcome for saving your life," said Brownie. "What up, dude?"

"Is it because of Philly?" said Segs.

"What?" said Brownie.

"The summer place, do you not want to get it because you're not sure about Philly?"

"No," said Brownie. "That's not it, dude, come on. I'll probably be in Philly way longer than you'll be in Boston."

"No, I know-- I mean, I don't _know_ , I just know that's what you say or whatever-- but is it like, the hockey thing?"

"I." Brownie sounded frustrated, like maybe he was running a hand through his hair the way he did sometimes. "Not really, dude. I guess it's just something I think about more. How long I'm gonna be playing, how much things cost and shit. It's not-- I don't know, dude. I just don't know if it's a smart idea right now, you know? I stay with my parents whenever I go home, and especially splitting it, I mean, who the fuck knows what's gonna happen."

"You planning on ditching me?" said Segs, genuinely surprised.

"No, dumbass," said Brownie, laughing. "I mean this is the kind of shit that fucks things up for people, you know? Don't wanna be messing with our relationship, you get me?"

"Then _you're_ a dumbass, Jesus," said Segs. "Look, just, forget about hockey and money and everything. We're always gonna be going back to Toronto, it's just-- it'll be _fun_."

"I-- yeah," said Brownie. "Look, I'll think about it, okay?"

"Okay," said Segs.

"Why're you trying to get me in on this so bad, anyway?" added Brownie after a moment. "Pretty sure you could get yourself ten summer places if you wanted, dude."

"Excuse me for being a good wife," said Segs, sniffing.

"Moron," said Brownie. "That's not even a fucking answer."

"Yeah, well-- "

"Hey, shit, I gotta go, they're boarding," said Brownie. "I'll make you a deal though. Give me a good reason, like, besides _fun_ and your bullshit economics crap-- you don't need to worry about money and I don't need a summer place, so they don't count as reasons-- and I'll do it."

"You're so fucking demanding," said Segs. "Fine. I'll wear you down, bitch."

"Sure," said Brownie. "Bye, Segs."

"Bye, Brownie," said Segs, hanging up.

 

The thing was, Segs had a really good reason, but he couldn't actually tell Brownie.

Which kind of sucked, considering the deal he'd just struck.

But like, Brownie was his _best friend_ , which probably wasn't reason enough, at least not in as many words, and Segs didn't know if even he could bring himself to use the phrase _best friends forever_ or whatever the fuck the teenage girls were calling it these days.

Even if it was pretty accurate. Brownie was just-- he was the only person Segs had ever met who he'd known from the start, the first fucking second, he wanted to hang around forever. He was such a good guy-- way better than Segs, honestly-- and he was hilarious and easygoing and generous as fuck, and he just _got_ Segs better than anyone, even though there were people Segs thought should technically get him better, but they didn't, not like Brownie, and that almost made it better, in a way, how it defied all logic. Segs just kind of loved everything about him: the way he was so good at finding things to laugh at, the way he gave Segs constant shit and never actually meant any of it, the way he tried harder than Segs had ever needed to try in his life, the way that getting him to smile made Segs' heart fucking seize up like he'd won the Cup again, the way he was content to just...be Brownie, or whatever the fuck.

He-- well, he knew though, that Brownie didn't really get it. Like, they were best buddies, obviously that was understood, but sometimes, when Segs got closest to voicing any of those thoughts about Brownie, Brownie would just roll his eyes like it was a joke, like he didn't get that no, Segs actually meant all of it and more, and there was no one he'd rather spend all his time with.

Admittedly that was maybe because Segs wasn't saying it _right,_ or something. Or maybe the dumb shit he did with his other friends, but that was-- they were nothing like Brownie.

No one was.

He had a tendency to dick around a lot, but fuck. He fucking _meant_ that shit.

It occurred to him that maybe Brownie didn't realise that though.

He called Brownie about five minutes after his flight was scheduled to land in Philly.

Obviously he couldn't tell him the _real_ reason, or not all of it, at least, but he could at least try to get some of it across, maybe. Who knew, the best buddies thing might even sell it, if he said it properly.

It was definitely worth a shot. And also something he wanted to do, anyway.

"Dude," said Brownie when he answered. "Codependent, much?"

"Shut up, fuckface, you miss me already," said Segs, and then frowned. He hadn't meant to start out quite like that.

Brownie just laughed, though, and said, "Yeah, yeah. Something up?"

"I wouldn't let just anyone call me their wife, you know," said Segs stupidly.

"Uh," said Brownie. "Okay?"

"I mean," said Segs, thinking fast, because fuck, _fuck_ , what did he mean? "You're my best buddy."

"I...know?" said Brownie. "Segs, dude, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Segs. "I was just thinking, you know. About life. And shit."

"Right," said Brownie. "Is this about the summer house?"

"No," said Segs. "Well, sort of. I'm not, like, threatening to ditch you if you don't go in for it. I was just. Thinking about it? And then about other things. And I thought you should know."

"That you wouldn't let just anyone call you their wife," said Brownie.

"Right," said Segs, nodding even though Brownie couldn't see him.

"Well, thanks, I guess, wifey," said Brownie, laughing.

Segs grinned. "No worries, babe," he said. "I just. I wouldn't ditch you either way, you know? That's the point. If you get the house with me or if you don't, I don't know if that helps, but I just-- I wouldn't ditch you. Like, ever."

Brownie was quiet for a sort of distressingly long time.

"Brownie?" said Segs hesitantly.

"I wouldn't ditch you either," said Brownie quietly.

Segs bit down on his lip. It felt like they were tipping dangerously or awesomely close to the real tangle of reasons he wanted to do this thing with Brownie, most of which boiled down to this, to the way Brownie was his best friend in the world, and there wasn't anyone he liked better or was so sure he wanted to be around forever, and how he kind of wanted to kiss him, a lot.

Yeah. Basically, Segs was crazy in love with him.

In the end he just said, swallowing and hoping he didn't sound too wrecked, "Thanks, Brownie."

"Cool," said Brownie. He cleared his throat. "Talk soon, okay?"

"Yeah, babe," said Segs, and hung up, clutching his phone tight.

 

He figured there were plenty of other reasons that Brownie would find plausible enough, and convincing enough, to buy a summer house with Segs.

He just had to think of them.

In the end he sat down in front of the TV with some old episodes of Pretty Little Liars-- that shit was inspiring-- and a beer, and got to work with a paper and pen.

It wasn't a long list, by the time he went to bed, but it was pretty passable quality.

 

He started his campaign to convince Brownie via text the next morning.

 _reason #1_ , he sent. _dont you wanna be able 2 invite ur parents round to someplace of ur own for xmas etc instead of going to theres all the time._

Brownie replied almost instantly with, _my dad hates staying at other ppls places besides my mom would just nag about it being dirty you kno its way bettr jst going home._

Fuck. Segs had forgotten that Brownie inherited less than his share of that family's weird-gene.

 _also_ , Brownie added, _least conivcing argument evr dude my mom is an amazing cook and you can't cook for shit why wld i wanna be sharing a house wit u when i got that?_

Ugh, fuck him.

 _what about someplace to have bangin partys_ , he sent next.

Brownie just replied, _i know plenty of dudes in toronto w cool places._

Segs sighed. _fine,_ he sent, _what about someplace to get LAID???_

 _hotel_ , said Brownie. _her place, someone else's place, back of the fckin car, all cheaper than BUYING A HOUSE._

 _youd do someone in the back of your car? so highschool dude supr romantic bet chicks love tht_.

Brownie just sent back, _they do ;)_ , and Segs rolled his eyes.

He very deliberately didn't think, _I'd let you fuck me in the back of your car_. So obviously there was no reason he simultaneously wanted to strangle his own brain and jerk off like crazy.

 _ok,_ he sent next. _wouldnt it be cool tho to jst have a place thats YOURS you can chill during offseason or whatever? like someplace you can always go back to. we're growin up dude time to get in on that real estate shit plus toronto so much classier than jersey we're classy dudes now._

Brownie sent back, _i dont know segs maybe._

Segs frowned hard at his phone, and, after a long moment with his thumb just hovering over the screen, sent, _are you jst stallin dude? its ok if you dont want to do this i told you i wont mind._

It was two days before Brownie sent back, _its not that i dont want to. jst need a real reason._

Segs sighed. He'd had a plan for how the whole being in love with Brownie thing was going to go down, and this wasn't it. He was going to tell Brownie, obviously, because he wasn't a fucking pussy-- or well, not a total pussy, at least. He was just enough of one to want a little security, which was fair enough, like, he was going to be putting his fucking heart on the line here, a dude deserved a bit of a safety net. So he'd planned on convincing Brownie to buy the place with him, and like, sign his name on the contract, and _then_ tell him, because like, they were best buddies and he didn't _think_ Brownie would actually freak out and punch him and then move to Alaska or something, but he wanted to be extra safe about that, because he couldn't actually lose Brownie, even if he did end up rejecting Segs. That was where the house came in, and the contract, and having Brownie's name on some legal document that like, tied him to Segs in some way.

It was probably dumb, but whatever, Segs would've owned that shit.

When it came down to it though, he fucking loved Brownie, and he'd do anything for him whether Brownie loved him back or not, and so if Brownie wanted a good reason, fuck it, Segs would give him one. If he wanted it. If he wanted Segs.

He tried not to think too hard about that bit. One step at a time, or whatever.

 

For the first time in possibly ever, he made sure to call Brownie when he knew for certain Brownie wouldn't answer his phone. It wasn't hard to figure out the right time; at some point, it seemed, without realising, he'd memorised Brownie's game _and_ practice schedule.

He poured himself three shots of tequila and knocked them back before he even thought about dialing, and then cracked open a beer and sipped it more slowly while he contemplated his phone. When he was about three-quarters through it he rolled his eyes at himself and set the bottle down on his coffee table, leaning back with the phone pressed to his ear.

He closed his eyes while Brownie's phone went to voicemail. His head spun a little; he probably shouldn't have shotgunned all that alcohol on an empty stomach.

Whatever. He wasn't sober, but he definitely wasn't drunk, and you totally needed liquid courage for this kind of thing.

"Look," he said after the beep, aware he sounded kind of desperate but not trying to stop it, because Brownie needed to know he wasn't fucking around, "Look, I miss you all the time, okay, fuckface, I wasn't going to tell you this til after we got a place together, so you couldn't freak out and run away, 'cause your name was on the contract and that's like, illegal. Even though I know you said you wouldn't ditch me but I figure this is like, exceptional fucking circumstances or something. But I miss you, I miss _living_ with you, I miss our place in Jersey, I miss playing on the same team, I miss-- just _you_ , okay. And I know it's just a summer place but I want-- I don't want it for me, I want it to be _ours_ , and if you're not gonna do it with me I'm not doing it at all." He blinked, frowning. "That's-- I'm not trying to like, threaten you into it or anything. I told you, 's cool, I won't ditch you either way. But I just. I want that. I want-- and maybe like, who knows, when we're done playing, it won't be a summer place anymore, it'll just be a _place_. Our place. If-- if you want. And like, I could do it by myself, you know? Even though I don't want to, but if I did, dude, I'm pretty sure I'd turn it into our place anyway. Kinda like my place in Boston is now. Except it sucks because it's just like that in my head, and I don't want it to be in my head anymore. Which is why I won't do it again unless it's real. So just. If you want it to be real too, I guess, uh, let me know?"

He hung up, breathing out and dropping his head into his hands. Jesus. He'd maybe gone overboard a bit, but fuck it, it was all on the line now, Brownie knew and he'd sure as hell done is best _trying_ to get everything across, so. 

So he just had to wait. Awesome.

 

Brownie called him back five and a half hours later. Not that Segs was counting.

"Segs, what the fuck," he said when Segs picked up.

"Uh," said Segs. "I-- sorry?"

"Shut the fuck up," said Brownie. "I'll do it."

"You-- wait, _what?_ "

"I told you to give me a good reason," said Brownie. "I think being in love is a pretty good reason."

Segs nearly swallowed his tongue. "I-- is that what we are?" he choked.

"I don't know, Segs," said Brownie. "Are we?"

"Dude, obviously I am," said Segs. "Did you _hear_ the message?"

"I heard a lot of you being a moron and not once mentioning the word love," said Brownie.

"Pretty sure it was still obvious," said Segs.

"Yeah, maybe," said Brownie, laughing a little. "I'm keeping that forever, by the way. For blackmail. And getting you to do shit. And like, put out even when you're not in the mood."

"Brownie," said Segs quietly, swallowing.

"Yeah, I love you too, dumbass," said Brownie.

"Oh," said Segs, and oh, wow, his chest felt kind of wrong, but in an awesome way, like it was going to explode or something, like the way he felt all the time around Brownie only _more_ , happier, fucking...everything. "Oh, _fuck_ , Brownie."

"Yeah," agreed Brownie. "Look, I-- thanks, you know? For-- for saying that. I just couldn't-- I didn't want to buy a fucking _house_ with you and like, lie about that shit."

"I don't care," said Segs immediately. "I'd-- I'd still want to buy the place with you, even if you were lying, or like, you didn't feel-- you know, or _anything._ Fuck, BFFs, you know? I told you. That's not-- that's never gonna change, it wouldn't've, even if you didn't want-- " He trailed off.

Brownie let out a kind of hoarse laugh, then cleared his throat and said, "Cool. Uh."

"Yeah, _cool_ ," said Segs, grinning really fucking stupidly.

"Your timing is fucking shit though," said Brownie. "I'm s'posed to be kissing you now."

"You-- oh," said Segs. He bit down hard on his lip. "Sorry? I didn't think-- "

"I could tell," said Brownie dryly.

"Fuck you, you loved it, bet you cried because I'm so romantic," said Segs.

"Yeah," said Brownie. "It was fuckin' poetry, bro."

Segs laughed. "You know it." Then he breathed out and added, "I really am sorry about the timing though. I chickened out a bit. I want-- I want to be mackin' on you now, dude."

"Yeah," said Brownie.

Segs tilted his head. "We could have phone sex instead?" he said hopefully.

Brownie snorted, but he said, "Okay, sure," easily, and Segs made a dumb victory noise and stuck his hand down his pants.


End file.
